ANGELA BLAKSTON

Angela is a scholarship recipient of the ARC Centre for Automated Decision-Making and Society.
Each year the Centre offers a select number of PhD scholarships across our nodes to engage and prepare the next generation of researchers to make world-leading contributions in an increasingly engaged and transdisciplinary research environment.
Thesis Title
Towards algorithmic literacy: exploring how young Australians understand and experience news algorithms.
Research Description
This project will undertake mixed-methods research to explore how and to what extent young Australians (16-24 years), are aware of and understand the role that algorithms play in news selection. This research will also explore the experiences and practices young Australians have and adopt (knowingly or not), when navigating news algorithms. The aim is to establish an algorithmic-literacy framework for young Australians, and identify the key roles that media, government and education could play in establishing such a framework.
Angela is also a research fellow on the ARC Linkage project ‘Media Innovation and the Civic Future of Australia’s Country Press’ and teaches journalism studies at Deakin University. Prior to this, she was a journalist for more than 20 years.
Supervisors
Assoc Prof James Meese, RMIT University
Prof Lisa Waller, RMIT University